By KENNEDY GORDON, Examiner Staff Writer - March 14, 2012

Peter Bascan, gordon Holnbeck and Lucinda Hage at the opening ceremonies of National Access Awareness week in 2010.  Peter and Lucinda were recipients of the Holnbeck Award that year.

Over the course of his long and accomplished life, it was the things Gord Holnbeck saw that sparked his drive to make a difference. When four firefighters died battling a blaze on George St. in the 1950s, Mr. Holnbeck was there, and never forgot. And when three elderly upstairs tenants were left homeless after a 1980 fire at a grocery store at Park and Brock streets, Mr. Holnbeck knew he had to help.

Mr. Holnbeck, a founder of the Peterborough City-County Disaster Trust Fund, died Monday. The long-time city alderman was 96.

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"Put The Stand In Understanding!"  This was the theme of this year's KPR Leadership Conference March 2, 2012.  

Heads Up for Inclusion's School Amigos' program had the privilage of running a workshop at the Conference.  A special thanks to Kyle Johnson (PCVS), Victoria Salem (TAS), Ian Thompson (Kenner CVI), and Heads Up' Daniel Lombardi for running a fun, experiencial and inspiring workshop!  

In our workshop students learned first hand about the Amigos program and how it works; what inclusion means; and, importantly, easy steps to becoming more inclusive, with all people!    Though an Awareness Game, some students had an opportunity to role play and discover first hand what having a disability might be like, while others got to move out of their comfort zone trying out new ways to be inclusive!

3 Steps Simple Steps to Inclusion

1. Don't be afraid to smile and say hello: Be the first to try and include someone.

2. Take the time to get to know someone: Scratch the surface and find common connections.

3. Be a creative communitcator and thinker: You may have to do things differently to what you are used to, but that is OK!

Step #3 is where you get to learn to go beyond, stretch yourself and move out of your comfort zone!  To meet new people and discover that you can break down barriers!! 

Thank you to all the students that attended our workshop!  And to Kyle, Victoria, Ian and Daniel for being a great team and facilitating such a fun and awareness building workshop!!

By: Anne-Marie Tobin, The Canadian Press

TORONTO - Social interaction and meaningful relationships are hard to come by for children and young adults with certain disabilities, says the author of a study of families in three Canadian cities.

Anne Snowdon released her report on Strengthening Communities for Canadian Children with Disabilities at a conference Thursday after a one-year study funded by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.

Numerous programs are available, but they can be challenging to access and navigate, said Snowdon, who has a PhD in nursing and is a professor at the University of Windsor's Odette School of Business.

"Communities tend to have more opportunities for children in the zero-to-six, maybe zero- to eight-year-old age range, but when we're working with children who are 18 or 21 or 24, there are many, many fewer opportunities," she said in an interview.

"Our data suggests that the social involvement in communities declines quite sharply as the children get older."

The study involved a survey of 166 families in Fredericton, Regina and Toronto, as well as focus groups made up of eight to 12 participants in each community.

Sixty-three per cent of respondents said they were not satisfied or only somewhat satisfied with the level of community support available to them.

Children and youth represented in the survey had a variety of diagnoses: autism spectrum disorder, global developmental delay, intellectual disability, multiple cognitive and physical disabilities or Down syndrome.

When families were asked to describe their child's friendships with peers, 53 per cent said their child has "no close friends" or only "one close friend."

It's a subject that "really reaches at the heartstrings when you talk to these children and their families," said Snowdon.

"More than half of them had one or had no friends. So that is a very compelling red flag for me, that we need to work harder in our communities to help them maintain and to really build those social networks beyond no friends, and-or just one friend, because we all know nobody really thrives with just one friend."

One parent told Snowdon that it was harder for her daughter to make and maintain friends after about Grade 5 or 6.

"It really, really becomes a challenge. And that's an area we really hope to work very hard on in working with our community and community partners — on finding some innovative ways to strengthen that piece," Snowdon said.

Deborah Barrett is the mother of a 23-year-old son with autism, and agreed that it can be challenging to find community support once kids reach a certain age.

"Once they turn 18 or leave school at 20, if they stay that long, it's like they're dead," said Barrett, director of community awareness and development at the Autism Society of Edmonton Area.

"There's nothing for them in the community. My son, particularly, even with his limited verbal skills, he was very clear he wanted to continue to go on to school."

Snowdon said the study showed that social interaction and connectivity is important for development and quality of life, and many of the children want to be engaged in meaningful social networks.

"One of the very important and useful tools that children themselves are telling us about is how critical it is to be on social networking sites, because they're able to connect with friends, acquaintances, peers, other family members at a distance," she said.

Social networking tools could also connect parents, Snowdon said.

And she recommended that community agencies work with families to co-ordinate their information so that a parent can visit one website for smooth and easy access to services and support from the health-care community.

Barrett wholeheartedly welcomed the idea. She said that in Edmonton now, Persons with Developmental Disabilities has a resource list, but it's difficult to tell what's offered by any particular group, and it's frustrating because some places don't return calls.

"What we would really need would be a list of resources and an objective description of what they actually provide and their philosophy, because different groups have different philosophies of how they treat people with disabilities," Barrett said.

"For some groups, it's OK to herd a group of people down the mall at 10 o'clock on a Tuesday. That's not something I want for my child."

It would also be nice to have a co-ordinating person who could ask what kind of program a family is seeking, and respond with a solution, she said.

"Finding the fit for your child and your child's needs — that's a really difficult thing. Most families are faced at age 18 or once they leave high school — you're just looking out into the world and not seeing anything. There are no signposts right now to guide the way."

The report was released at the Sandbox Project’s second annual conference in Toronto. The project was created to improve the health of Canada's children and youth, and make measurable progress against international health indicators.

On Tuesday December 8^th, Amigos, Kate and Amy, from Kenner Collegiate responded to a button request from the Blueboxing team, a Community Living initiative at Fleming College. Having just finished the Inclusion Button Campaign at their school, Kate and Amy are button experts! The Blueboxing team requested buttons to add to their ‘uniform’, letting people know: they are there to help! “Please Ask” says the button. The Blueboxing team at Fleming College is a dedicated group of volunteers who work together with students, staff and visitors to build knowledge and understanding of how to reduce waste, and keep their campus green!  

Kate and Amy showed the group how to make buttons, and everyone had a chance to make one of their own!   Making the buttons together was a great way to connect with partners in inclusion, and to continue building inclusive communities. In the New Year, Amigos are off to make more buttons with the Blueboxing team at Trent!